


I can't explain

by tommys_holiday_camp



Series: I can't explain [1]
Category: The Who (Band)
Genre: 1960s, 1967/68, Carnival, F/M, Falling In Love, Fortune Telling, London
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28553556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommys_holiday_camp/pseuds/tommys_holiday_camp
Summary: The Who goes to a carnival and gets their fortunes told. Roger thinks that he got cursed and Pete might have a crush on that fortune teller.
Relationships: Pete Townshend/Original Character(s), Roger Daltrey/You
Series: I can't explain [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2092017
Kudos: 2





	1. The carnival and the glittering girl

"Oh, come on you guys, this looks like fun!" Keith cheered.  
"Not after that last ride, Keith," Pete groaned. "I feel horrible."

"Oh, stop being a big baby, Townshend," Roger ran up from behind him. "That was fun! John, wasn't that fun?"

"Oh yes definitely," he rolled his eyes. It really wasn't the most fun thing he had ever done, and both Keith and Roger had a huge adrenaline rush.

"No, guys, it's not a ride. It's a fortune teller!" Keith's eyes lit up like stars in the sky.

"Ok, why are you so excited about this?" John laughed.

"Maybe she can tell me if I will have to go to jail." Keith said.

"Wow what a wonderful question, Keith. Will I go to jail??" Pete laughed.

"Oh I would not believe in that crap." Roger scoffed. "She's just doing this to get your money."  
"I know Dip, but it sounds like fun." John admitted.

"Of fine," Roger groaned.

*

*

*

They all walked into the fortune tellers booth. She looked about their age and Pete looked like he might have liked her.

"Welcome," she said to them. "What are your guys names?"

"Oh hi, I'm Pete and this is my band that you know as The-" Roger cut him off.

"It's not your band Townshend. It's ours. By the way I'm Roger and over there is Keith and John."

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys too! My name is Donna," she smiled. "What have you all come here for?"

"Keith would like to know if he would go to jail," John laughed.  
"John, I'm not dumb!" Keith kicked him in the shin.

"Oh jail," she repeated.  
"Well, it all depends on what you have done in the past and what you are going to do now. Are you going to destroy more hotel rooms or are you going to drive another car into a pool? I wouldn't do that if I was you. I can say if you do any of those things again yes, but if you don't you won't. Wear this chain. It might make you think of me the next time you want to do something like that." she said and she then put the chain around his neck. 

"Wow, thank you," Keith said.

They all asked her questions. Even Roger asked her one. Pete looked like he really liked her. She was also not one of those super weirdo fortune tellers. She also gave them each a palm reading for free.

"Oh Donna," Pete asked before they left. "Can I have your number?" He bagan blushing.

"Oh of course," she got out paper and a pen and wrote it down for him. "Here you go. Have a wonderful night!"

"Thank you,"

"Wow she is hot," John said after they left.

"And it looks like Pete fancies her," Keith cooed.

"Shut up Keith," Pete said.

"Oh come on Pete, you asked for her number and blushing the whole time!"

Roger was being more quiet than normal which was very weird since he commented on every single little thing.  
"Roger are you alright? You're being a bit quiet." John asked.

"I'm fine, John. Just a bit tired." He said. 

"Yeah, it is getting late," John looked at his watch. "Let's get going."


	2. It's called Tommy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pete shows his idea for their new album and Roger now starts to think the fortune teller cursed him and the rest of the band.

That morning...

You look to your left to see your boyfriend sleeping. His usual straight, blond hair has turned into a clump of curls.

"Roger," you said to him. He woke up instantly.

"Yes, y/n"  
"What happened to your hair?" 

He realized that you have never seen his curly hair before and he explains."My hair is actually curly, my love. I have never liked it like that, so I just use the dippity do to straighten it."  
"But your hair looks very nice like that," you tell him. "You should keep it like that today and see what everyone thinks."

"Thank you, y/n," he gets up from his side of the bed. "It's rather late and I need to be at the studio," he then says.

"Ok, Roger go get ready then!" you told him as you also got up.  
*  
*  
*  
The studio...

"So Pete you are saying that you have an idea for our next album," Kit asked. 

"Yes, Kit and it will be called," he anticipated. "Tommy!"

They all looked at him perplexed. "Why Tommy and not beautiful Keith?" Keith asked.

"Seriously, Keith I haven't explained what it's about,"  
"Then explain," Chris said. 

"So, it's about a boy named Tommy that witnesses his father get killed and becomes deaf, dumb, and blind. He has to get through his rough life and learns how to play pinball to defeat the pinball wizard. He gets cured and has a camp for pinball and then he sees his mom die while the camp goes up in flames." 

"Do you have any songs for it," John asked.

"Yeah, I have two with me right now," Pete dug out some papers from his bag. "I have 'Pinball Wizard' and 'Christmas' with me right now."  
Pete handed over the papers to John. 

"By the way where is Roger?" Pete asked. 

"He's not here yet," Kit said. "I haven't heard from him in a couple of days actually. I hope he's not dead or something."

"Are you guys talking about me?" Roger asked. 

"Woah holy shit, Dip," Pete gasped. 

"Your hair. What on earth did you do?" 

"Well, I actually have naturally curly hair and I use the dippity doo to straighten it," Roger said. " Y/n said it looked good curly, so I just went with it."

"Well it does look good, Roger," John said. "It suits you."

"Thank you, John. So what are you guys talking about," Roger asked.  
"Pete has an idea for a new album called Tommy." 

"Oh cool, what is it about?"

*

Pete explained the album to Roger like he did to the rest of the group. He was not really onboard with the whole thing like the rest of them were.

"Oh come on Dip look at the songs he wrote," Chris said. "They look good."

"I know they are, Stampy, but I just don't understand the concept," Roger told them. 

"That's almost the whole point, Dip.It's going to tell a story most people won't understand. It's called," Pete thought of what to call it. "It's called a concept album. Or better yet a rock opera!"

"Oh fine, I'll give it try, Townshend," Roger finally gave in. 

"Yes let's get started then!" Pete cheered. 

Pete started playing what he wrote. It sounded great. John joined after. Roger came in seconds after...

"Ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball

From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all

I ain't seen nothing like him, in any amusement hall

That deaf, dumb, and blind boy sure plays a mean pinball"

Roger sung loud and strong and at the chorus, Keith started to play like a wild banshee. Even Kit and Chris looked like they enjoyed it too. At the end Roger felt like a whole new person. Almost like he was Tommy. 

"Pete," Roger said. "That was bloody amazing."  
"You really think it was, Dip?"  
"Yeah, Pete. It truly was incredible." 

"Thanks, Dip. I have some other songs too. Would you like to see them?"  
"Oh hell yeah, Townshend!"

Hours later...

*  
*

"Wow that was interesting," John said. "Keith why on earth would you put whisky all over your drums?" 

"I don't know I just wanted to!" 

"Oh yes,"

Roger sat in a chair absolutely pooped. All that singing he did caused his throat and voice was dry and hurt. But the songs that Pete wrote were great. It took him a bit to warm up to the concept though. 

"Well that's that folks let's hope the Stones let us you this space tomorrow," Kit told them. "I think we could maybe use a bit more practice, some more song writing, and we might can maybe start recording."

"Ok, I hope they will then," John said, fidgeting around with his bass.  
Roger got the same feeling that he got the other night at the carnival. The itchy, tired, sick to your stomach feeling came back again. 

"Hey, Dip, you don't look that well," Keith glanced at him. 

"I know, but I don't know why. This is how I felt when we left the carnival too. Do you think that lady cursed me?"

"Roger why would she curse you? She seems very nice!" Pete asked him.  
"Oh course you say that Pete. You asked her for he phone number for crying out loud!" Keith said.

"It look Roger is a bit paranoid," John said. "Remember when he said she was only doing it to get people's money? Now he thinks that he is cursed."

"Ok, John maybe I do believe in it and I don't enjoy it, but when we left, I have been feeling very weird at this time of day," 

"Did she give you anything," John asked.  
"Yeah she gave me this chain almost like Keith's," he stopped in mid sentence. "You guy's have to help me take it off!"

Pete moved his hair out of the way and tried to take it off, but it wouldn't budge.  
"Roger it won't come off," Pete told him. "And you have a nasty bruise there. Where did that come from?" 

"What?" Roger panicked. 

"Yeah, it looks pretty bad too," Kit said taking a look. 

"Oh shit what if all of us got cursed," Roger brought up. "Look at Keith for example he's actually not being as crazy he usually is! Weird, right?"

"Roger he's asleep on the floor," Chris said. 

"Well, maybe I'm just paranoid and I should go home then," Roger said.  
"Yeah, Dip. I think we all should go home and hopefully get some rest for our big day tomorrow," Kit said. "Chris and I can go ask Mick and the rest of them while you guys can go."

"I'm going to stay," Pete told them. "I might get some more ideas while I'm here." 

"Ok, so me, Pete, and Kit are going to stay. "You three can head on back to houses," Chris told them.  
"What about Keith, I can take him home if you want," John mentioned. 

"Ok, John," Pete told him.

John woke up Keith up who didn't understand a thing.

"Ok thank you John and I hope all of you guys have a wonderful night and hope we can be here tomorrow," Kit told them.  
*

*

*

"Am I actually paranoid?" Roger asked himself when he got into his house. "I can't actually be cursed. Wait I didn't shower last night so how was my hair curly?" he said. 

Roger thought even more. 

"Maybe I am cursed,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I totally did not post this in study hall...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roger tells everyone they are cursed and they finally start to believe. They also come up with a plan to make sure they really are.

Roger, she would never curse you.

Are you paranoid?

I thought you didn't believe in things like that.

All these thoughts went through Roger's head that night. Those horrid thoughts. Did that nice fortune teller actually curse him or was it just him being extremely paranoid like John had told him?

"Roger, wake up," you said. "Roger, you're having a nightmare.  
He woke up to the sound of your voice. It was smooth and calm. 

"Y/n, I don't know what's happening to me," He cried. You turn on the lamp next to you to see nasty bruises all over his body.   
"Roger, what happened to you? Did you get in a fight or something?" you ask.  
"No," he said. "Yesterday Pete said I had a bruise on the back of my neck."

You try to touch his arm, but he moves away. 

"Roger does it hurt?" you ask.  
"Of course it does! I would let you touch them if they didn't hurt," he tells you 

"I wonder how this happened to you," you tell him. "How about you go try to wash up and then come back to bed since it's only two in the morning."

Roger made his way into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His hair weirdly got longer and the bruises took over his body. 

"What the hell," he whispered.  
He tried touching one of his bruises and it sent chills all down his spine. It was almost like he weirdly got electrocuted by that one touch. He fell to the floor in pain.

"Roger are you ok, darling," you asked from your bedroom. You heard Roger sob quietly on the floor in the bathroom. "Oh Roger," you say as kneel on the floor next to him. He presses his face in your shoulder as you try to calm him down.

"I'm sorry, darling," you tell him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I think so," he says getting up. "I don't really know why this happened. It just happened so quickly."

"What happened," you ask.

"I came in here and I touched my arm and it almost sent electricity through my whole body," he said. 

"Wow," you said. "I'm sorry about this darling. That must have really hurt."  
"Yeah, it hurt a bit. I told the rest of the group I thought that fortune teller cursed me, but they all said I was crazy and paranoid," he said.   
"Oh," you say. "You think you got cursed?"

"Yeah, ever since I left the carnaval, haven't been feeling well," he said with tears rolling down his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and shudders at the sight of all his bruises. You get up and hug him.

"Roger, I don't know why this is happening to you, but there has to be a reason," you tell him. "We can talk more about this is in the morning." 

You both walk back into the bedroom and get into bed.   
"I love you, Roger," you say.  
"I love you too, y/n."

*

*

*

The next morning Roer wakes up with a phone call. You are already out of bed. He gets up to grab the phone, but he's too late. You pick up to find out that they can use the Stone's studio for the next couple of days, while they take a break.   
Roger gets in the shower and gets dressed in something think where you can't see the bruises all over his body. 

"Good moring, Roger," you say as he takes a seat at the table next to you.   
"Good morning," he replies. He looks way better than he did last night.

"You need to go to the studio today. The Stone's are taking a break, so you get it for the next couple of days," you tell him, turning the page in your book.   
"Ok, thank you y/n," he said. 

*

*

"Ok everyone, we got this studio to ourselves for the next week ish so, we need to work are asses off," said Kit after everyone got there. 

Roger looked around at all his band mates. The all looked like they had a rough night just like him.  
"Ok Kit," Pete yawned. "I have written some more songs, but they aren't totally done yet. Maybe you guys can help me with the rest."  
"Ok, Townshend, give me one you haven't finished,' John looking over Pete's shoulder. 

Pete handed him "The Acid Queen" and he started reading the lyrics.   
That's when Roger finally got the guts to tell them what happened the night before. "Did anyone else have an extremely rough night?" he asked. 

Everyone looked at him weirdly. "So, what happened to you guys?"

"Roger do you think we all got cursed now?" Keith asked.

"Well, I just want to know," Roger said embarrassed.   
"Well," Pete said. "My night was weird. I got the weirdest rash on my arm and I constantly felt like someone was watching me."

"Keith, John, what about you?" 

"Keith doesn't remember a single thing, but I remember fondly that I got almost the same feeling as Pete but, I also had weird almost bite like marks on my arms as well," John questioned, putting the paper down on the nearest table.  
"So, Roger maybe you are right with all the curse bullshit, but why would she curse us?" Pete asked.

"I don't know," Roger shrugged. "But we need to find out if she did or not, and what we can do."  
"So Roger now tell us what happened to you last night if you keep asking them," Keith said.

"I have bruises all over my body and whenever I would touch them, it gave off almost a weird electricity and stung," Roger told them. 

"So, now you all think you got cursed?" Kit asked."Well, Kit they all have some good explanations," Chris said.  
"You are right about that, Stamp, but what about Keith? He didn't have any reactions last night." 

"Kit he was drunk and slept," John told him. "How was he supposed to know?" 

"So maybe you guys might have gotten cursed," Kit finally said. "Roger sorry about everything that happened yesterday."

"It's ok, but now we can actually come up with a plan to see if we really are," Roger said. "Let's all stay here tonight and we can see if we any reaction like last night." 

They all agreed with his idea and went back to looking at Pete's songs. Roger was ready to prove that they cursed once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was totally not written in study hall...again


	4. Cobwebs and Strange pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Who spends the night at the studio to see if anything happens to them.

9 o'clock that night...

"Wow, that was a day," said John, taking a seat. "So, I guess we are really staying here tonight."  
"Of course; why wouldn't we want to see if Roger's prediction is not correct?" Keith asked. 

Chris and Kit had already left, so it was just them. Pete was still writing like he did the whole day, Keith was being his usual crazy self, John finished writing a song for Pete, and Roger. Roger was reading. He had nothing else to do besides look at the new songs, so he picked up a book that belonged to Charlie Watts and started reading it. 

"Does anyone have ideas for what we will do tonight?" asked Keith. He seemed pretty bored. 

"I don't know," Roger said, looking up from the book he was still reading. "How about we get something to eat and go see a movie? After we come back here, go to sleep. We can wake up each hour and see what has happened to us."

"Ok, Dip," John said. "That's actually a good idea. Is everyone ready to go because I am."  
"Yeah, one sec, John." Pete said from the little booth he was in.

They left not that long after. Roger was very excited to finally prove to the rest of the band that they were actually cursed. They ended up going to the small diner not far away to the studio. Even though they thought they were the Stones, it was a lot of fun.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Pete asked, taking one last sip of his drink.   
"I don't know maybe the cinema." Roger said

"Oh if we go, can we see a good movie and not something stupid?" asked Keith.   
"Keith, what's a good movie to you?" John asked Keith. 

"I don't know, something that is not stupid," 

"Well, 2001 a space odyssey is playing, in 10 minutes," Roger told them. "It's long, but it will keep our minds off the curse."

"Ok let's go see that then." John said.

*

*

3 hours later...

"Wow that was so fucking boring," Keith said. "Who actually likes stuff like that?"  
"I do," Pete, John, and Roger said.

"We should head back to the studio now and see what happens I guess," Pete said moting for a taxi.

***

When they got to the studio, Roger went into their bathroom and checked if he had any bruises like earlier. Again, they covered his body.

"Guys, I have those bruises again!" Roger told them, taking of his jacket to show them. 

"Holy shit, Dip! Those are huge," Pete gasped.   
"And they are covering your arm," John said. 

"So are you guys know saying this curse thing might be real?" Keith asked. 

"Well now I do. Look at Roger's arm for crying out loud!" Pete said. 

"Is it ok if I touch your arm, Dip?" John said.   
Roger nodded his head nervously. John touched Roger's arm lightly. "Oh my gosh," Roger said.   
"Does that hurt?" Keith asked. 

"Of course it does?"He yelled.   
"Oh, sorry about that, Roger," John said. "It's ok, John."

"It hurts that bad, Roger?" Pete asked.  
"Yeah and last night I kinda cried about it. Y/n helped me a lot and explained that everything was going to be ok."   
"Wow sorry about that Dip," John said again.  
"It's fine, John." Roger replied. 

"Do you guys want some booze?" Keith asked. There were wings coming out of his back.   
"Keith," Pete hesitated. "There are wings on your back." 

"There are what?" Keith said turning his head. "Oh what the hell. So am I cursed?"

"I guess so Keith," John said. "It looks like Roger was not lying about the curse crap."   
"Ok know where did Roger go?" Pete said. 

"Guys guys I don't know what happened to my hair," Roger yelled running from the bathroom. His hair had gotten even longer and looked like a dog.   
"Roger you look like a dog," Pete said. "Both you and Keith now."

"Wait what happened to," He stopped. "Oh shit you got wings. Are you Tinkerbell now?"  
"Roger you weren't lying," John said. His skin was paler and it looked like he had fangs. 

"So do you guys believe me now?" Roger asked. 

"Of course how do you explain all of this?" Keith said. "But nothing has happened to Pete yet."

"I know that, but maybe it's because of that fortune teller. Should could tell Pete liked her, so she didn't curse him." Roger suggested. Roger looked at Pete again. He now had legs like a horse, and the top half of a human. "Nevermind it looks like all of us have been cursed."

"Yeah no shit Roger. What the hell did she do to me?" Pete shrieked.   
"So we now have a werewolf, a vampire, and centaur, and a fairy in our band and tomorrow we have to explain this all to Chris and Kit. That's just great."

"Wait, we only noticed this when were together. At night. They are not going to know anything." Keith said.   
"You are right about that Keith, but how will we hide all of this?" Roger asked. 

"Let me explain all of this," They heard from the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I haven't posted in forever! I haven't had study halls to finish them in lol.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Wattpad to @deaky_fred_rodg_bri


End file.
